The Last of Us To Become Live-Action Movie

The recent hit, The Last of Us, will be getting a live-action adaptation done by Screen Gems.

The American production company and Sony Pictures subsidiary, which also produced the Resident Evil movie series, will distribute the film version of the award-winning Naughty Dog game. The co-presidents of the developer, Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, will serve as “creative architects” for the movie alongside Game Director Bruce Straley and Creative Director Neil Druckmann. Druckmann is also set to write the script while Sam Raimi, the director of The Amazing Spiderman series and Evil Dead, is going to produce.

Clint Culpepper, president of Screen Gems, said, “Screen Gems’ Brian Dukes and Eric Ling brought this game to my attention insisting we go after it, and when I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay. I am thrilled that SCEA’s Riley Russell was able to get me in front of Neil and Evan Wells to plead my case. Sam and his team at Ghost House round out the perfect team to help realize Neil’s vision.”

Wells added about the combination of Screen Gems and Ghost House, “Since our game released last June, we’ve talked with many companies about making a film, but we couldn’t have found better partners who share our creative vision and high standards.”

Other announcements, such as release date and the actors affiliated with the film, have not been revealed.

My Opinion

This is a puzzling idea for me. I would like to see a movie like The Last of Us hit the big screen as, sometimes, gameplay can break a story in some parts and having a large story like The Last of Us in theaters would be great. However, there are a couple potential problems about this movie adaptation. For one, it is a video game adaptation, and while the Resident Evil movie series is one the of the best selling video game adaptations, with possible exceptions being Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat, these adaptations rarely have good critical acclaim. Also, the idea has been tossed around about an Uncharted movie, and with movie versions of other Sony franchises like Sly Cooper and Heavenly Sword getting the film treatment, Sony may be biting off more than it can chew. I just hope that the right actors and actresses would be chosen to fill the roles of the live action Joel, Ellie, Tess, and others, and that the story has enough in it for those of us who played the game are not disappointed.